Cheering for Dennis Wideman can be a challenge at times. Google “Dennis Wideman mistakes” and the top result is a Boston message-board thread entitled “Dennis Wideman is killing me slowly.” The second result is a Facebook page entitled “DWD (Dennis Wideman Disease) Therapy Group.”

So yeah, he’s been known to make the odd blunder.

Wideman, a defenseman, has only been in the NHL since 2005, yet he’s already played on four teams. Currently he’s in Washington, and with the injury to Mike Green (sprained ankle), he’s being asked to step up in a big way. In each of the past three games, Wideman has been on the ice for over 23 minutes.

So far, the reviews have been extremely positive. Teammate Brooks Laich says Wideman “may be playing the best hockey I’ve ever seen him play.”

Wideman’s 10 points ranks him seventh among NHL defensemen.

“He’s very confident with the puck,” Laich added, as reported by CSNWashington.com. “He makes a lot of plays into the middle of the ice. A lot of defensemen will take the safe play and throw it off the wall, but his head is always up and he makes confident sharp passes up the middle of the ice and that allows us to transition out of our zone rather than getting stuck in scrums on the wall.”

Cue the bitter Bruins fans saying they could’ve used a few more “safe plays” out of the guy.

Green will miss his fourth straight game tonight when the Caps take on the Hurricanes in Carolina, and with a game in Long Island tomorrow, you have to think it’ll be at least five games in the press box before he’s ready to return.